Decontamination methods are used in a broad range of applications, and have used an equally broad range of sterilization agents. As used herein, the term “decontamination” refers to processes, including, but not limited to, “deactivation of biocontamination,” “deactivation of chemical contamination,” “sterilization,” “disinfection” and “sanitization.” Chemicals used to effect decontamination are interchangeably referred to herein as decontaminants or sterilants.
Decontamination systems rely on maintaining certain process parameters in order to achieve a target sterility or decontamination assurance level. For hydrogen peroxide vapor decontamination systems, those parameters include the concentration of liquid hydrogen peroxide in a liquid sterilant subject to vaporization, the concentration of the vaporized hydrogen peroxide in a vaporized sterilant, the degree of saturation, the temperature and pressure and the exposure time. By controlling these parameters, the desired sterility of decontamination assurance levels can be successfully obtained.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for controlling the concentrations of a decontaminant or sterilant.